


Bloody Dawn

by AerisLei



Series: Lunoct week 2020 [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: F/M, lots of introspection, noctis and luna are together during insomnia invasion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:13:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26600440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AerisLei/pseuds/AerisLei
Summary: Written for LuNoct Week 2020, prompts used are Dawn and Together During Insomnia Invasion Au.Noctis, Lunafreya, and Nyx must escape Insomnia as the empire bears down on them. At dawn it will be harder for them to free themselves, so the clock is ticking.
Relationships: Lunafreya Nox Fleuret/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Series: Lunoct week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1933807
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11
Collections: Lunoct Week 2020





	Bloody Dawn

Noctis slipped his hand into Lunafreya’s and began pulling her down one of the long hallways, not looking back even once. He knew if he looked back, he wouldn’t have the strength to go forward. Noctis knew the Citadel better than most of the Glaives and Crownsguard, better than anyone other than perhaps Regis and Clarus. Ignis knew most of the pathways that Noctis used, but not all of them, not this one.

Ignis, Prompto and Gladio were helping with the Civilians, they were with Cor and the crownsguard. He’d been supposed to join them before the Ceremony, but disaster had struck instead. And so, Noctis was on his own tonight, even most the glaive could not be trusted and he knew it. More than that, he and Luna had to get out alive, no matter what the cost, and no matter what happened around them. The ring weighed heavily in his pocket, given to him by Regis before the signing ceremony.

In hindsight, it was another sign that Regis had known all along what was going to happen. The realization stung, even though he and Lunafreya were supposed to have been out of the city before the Ceremony began. It was proof that he’d been right, that the treaty was not something they should have entered into. 

Lunafreya had been kidnapped by the Empire, and subsequently rescued by the Glaive, perhaps most especially by Nyx, who admitted that several of the Glaive had turned on them during the extraction.

“This way.” Noctis whispered before leading onward as they reached a hallway with multiple options for their path.

“Your father-”

“Has made his choice.” He sounded steadier than he felt, a fact Noctis was grateful for, “And that choice was to save us, and as many of the civilians as possible.” Noctis voice was quiet, his tone grim, but at least it remained steady. “We have to meet up with the others, we have to get out of Insomnia, before daybreak. After… it may not be possible, anymore.” Not with the Empire swarming the place like this. 

Noctis didn’t _like_ the idea of leaving Regis behind them, but his father’s words lingered in his mind and they both knew that it wasn’t possible for all four of them to get out alive. Noctis, Nyx and Luna? That might be possible.

Regis… would offer a diversion, and it made Noctis sick to his stomach, but Glauca had taken a great deal from them. And that was why Regis had made this decision. Noctis didn’t know if he _could_ stand against Glauca, but some part of him wondered if he shouldn’t have tried.

Regis had thought it wasn’t worth trying. Noctis and Luna _had_ to survive the night, because the prophecy of the chosen king relied upon it. Still, walking away like this made him a terrible son, a terrible prince, didn’t it? His people needed him here and fighting, too. 

“I was going to say he’d be proud of you, for understanding that your people need you alive more than he needs you to give your life beside him.” Lunafreya finished, her tone a little sad. 

Noctis looked down and away, but didn’t allow his steps to falter, and he didn’t let go of her hand, either. If they stopped here, they’d be sitting chocobos, waiting for their attackers to find them. Better to escape while the path was clear.

“Your highness, where are we-” Nyx began, but Noctis cut him off. 

“Into the parking garage. A car won’t get us all that far, but it will get us away from the citadel, and the more ground we can cover the better.”

“But this isn’t the right way.”

“This passage will go where I need it to.” Noctis led them through a twisting series of hallways, sealing each door behind them as they passed. 

A short few moments later, they appeared in the parking garage through a side entrance. Noctis led the way unerringly to the black custom vehicle that had been a birthday gift four years ago.

“Drive.”

“Your highness?”

“I don’t have the time or experience to link your magic to me instead of my father. When he dies, you will lose all warping and elemancy ability. I won’t, so you should drive.”

Nyx didn’t argue any further, sliding into the driver’s seat and starting the vehicle while Noctis ensured Luna was settled safely in back before entering on the passenger’s side.

And then they were off into the darkness. Noctis advised Nyx to keep his communicator turned off and keep to side roads where possible. The hope was to stay unseen for long enough to get close to one of the outer gates. Noctis wasn’t going to hold his breath by any means, but one could hope, yes?

They just had to make it out of Insomnia, then they could meet up with Cor and the others. If they could make it that far, if they could get out of the city before dawn broke, then at least Regis’ sacrifice wouldn’t have been in vain. 

Noctis’ phone buzzed - a message from Prompto lit up the display. A query on what the hell was going on and where he was. Noctis had already turned the location off on his phone, just in case. That meant Ignis had no way of knowing where he was or if he was okay, either.

The message Noctis sent in return was short and said only that he was alive and would join up with them when it was possible to do so. 

Their easy escape wasn’t to be.

Dratos blocked their path. Noctis ordered him to stand aside. Dratos became Glauca before their eyes. 

“Noctis, no. You mustn’t.”

“I don’t have a choice.” He said quietly, taking her hand in one of his and pressing a kiss against her knuckles. A promise, an apology. “Nyx, get Princess Lunafreya out of the city. I’m counting on you.”

“Noctis!”

“I’ll rejoin you later.” 

He could see in her eyes that she wasn’t sure she believed him. Even so, she sat back down properly in the car's backseat. Noctis hoped that he wasn’t lying to her.

Noctis moved away from the car and slid the ring in his pocket onto his finger. The old wall rose at his command to fight the Empire, to fight the Daemons released upon the city, to protect the city - or what could be saved of it. The old wall would exact a price from him, as it exacted a price from every Lucian king, but at least he was of the blood, the price would not be his life.

At least not _immediately_. And Noctis could worry about the rest later.

Fighting Glauca was harder. _Much_ harder. The Glaive was well trained, and familiar with Noctis’ preference for fighting and the way warping worked. It was a price of having one granted the power of the Lucian kings suddenly betray them.

Regis had been a good king. Not perfect, but he had done the best he could with a terrible situation that was given to him. Listening to Dratos go on and on gave Noctis a level of perspective to _why_ the other had betrayed them. But… the weight of it was strange.

Didn’t Dratos know that if one tried to protect everything, then nothing could be saved? That was something Regis had impressed upon him many times over the years, when Noctis had questioned the way things were, and the way the wall worked. They had clashed over the treaty, but still Regis had gone forward with it, and here they were.

Didn’t Dratos understand that he was siding with the people that were the _reason_ the outlands, the homes of many of the glaives, were in such terrible shape?

The fight was hard. Noctis bled for it as he fought against a soldier with so much more experience and so much more strength. A solider that knew where to strike to drive Noctis to his knees - and he did, more than once.

In spite of this, Noctis fought on, always evading or defending before Dratos could land a critical blow. Once or twice, they were nearly caught among the fighting of the Old Wall. Sometimes that was for the better, and sometimes it threatened Noctis’ safety just as much as it did Dratos’. 

They were a blessing and a curse. Noctis had always known that, but he understood it better now than ever before. And for a moment he hated them. If their price wasn’t so high, then perhaps Regis would have survived his clash with Glauca, and perhaps they wouldn’t be fleeing for their lives in the darkness.

But the price was what it was, and the gods and the souls of the Lucii and the Crystal itself didn’t care what happened to them. Noctis had always known. And yet, here he was following the path laid out before him by those selfsame things. None of it would matter if he didn’t _also_ make it out of the city.

Activating the armiger for the first time was something Noctis surprised himself with, but desperation was a funny thing. It did not have the power of the royal arms behind it, but Noctis had an assortment of weapons bonded to the armiger from his own training - and it was enough, if only barely.

With the Armiger he was able to drive Glauca back, and this time, the traitor did not rise from the rubble. Noctis didn’t wait around to see what would throw itself at him next, dropping the armiger and tucking the ring back into his pocket as he fled into the streets.

Dawn was just starting to break, the sky lightening. There was still time. Noctis lost himself among a group of refugees making their way out of the city in a cluster. They were unhindered. And for the first time since he was a child, Noctis was outside of Insomnia. 

For the first time since his text to Prompto Noctis pulled out his phone, miraculously undamaged from the fighting. 

Another message had come in while he was fighting. It said simply ‘we’re in Hammerhead.’

‘We?’ He texted back, waiting in a hidden location that he’d been able to warp to once he was away from the refugees. Until he knew if Nyx and Lunafreya were there, Noctis couldn’t go. He couldn’t abandon Luna here. 

The answer came in the form of a picture - Lunafreya sitting with Umbra and Pryna on either side of her, leaning over a map with Ignis and Gladiolus. 

‘Nyx will be waiting with your car, first Haven when you get away from Insomnia.’ Came a second message a few moments later.

Ah. Well, it would beat _walking_ to Hammerhead from here. Noctis sent an affirmative and started on his way, feeling drained.

He would have to face them when he reached hammerhead. He would have to admit that Clarus had never made it out of the signing, that Regis had fallen shortly after. That the city itself had been wrecked in combat, and their home was no longer theirs, but the Empire’s. 

Those things weighed heavily on his shoulders. But he had done what his father had commanded, he had gotten himself and Luna out alive. 

He just wished it didn’t taste like ashes instead of victory. Dawn broke overhead, and Noctis thought the red streaks in the clouds were bitterly fitting, somehow. Red, like blood, as if the sky had been painted with those who were lost in the darkness.

Noctis tried not to think about it anymore as he pressed onward, carrying the weight of the future on his narrow shoulders. But at least he didn’t have to carry it alone. Luna and the guys, they were waiting for him - it was best he didn’t keep them waiting.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sorry for glossing over the battle scene with Glauca. This was actually really interesting and fun to write and may (one day) get a follow up regarding the reunion in Hammerhead, at minimum. But for now, I hope you enjoy!


End file.
